My Mother Told Me Never to Speak to Strangers
by winterpolis
Summary: Draco meets Hermione at Flourish and Blotts the summer before they enter Hogwarts. AU fic; no Second Wizarding War; young DxH; probably a bit OOC.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters.**

AU in which there is no Second Wizarding War, Draco did not grow up a git and did not have any distorted misconceptions of blood lines, Narcissa teases her son, and Hermione makes Draco jittery.

* * *

The first time Draco Malfoy took notice of a certain bushy-haired, bright-eyed girl was at Flourish and Blotts.

It was the summer before he was to enter Hogwarts, and he had been shopping for his various school supplies with his mother at Diagon Alley. The youngest Malfoy had received his letter from the school a week prior, and he had been excited to immediately shop for the things he'd be needing for the school year. It was all he could talk about for a week; and unable to take any more of his rambling and excited chatter, his father had taken him to Diagon Alley to shop for his robes, wand, broomstick, and owl (all of which were nothing but the best) the Monday after.

When he'd asked his father when they would be purchasing his books and other academic necessities, Lucius had merely scoffed. "Your mother will be taking you back here for that tomorrow. I don't fancy shopping for books, quills, or cauldrons, Draco."

Draco had frowned, but let the comment slip as a cone of cold ice cream was handed to him by his father, the unusual show of affection making him forget the topic.

The next morning, his mother had risen him at the crack of dawn; and he quickly went about his morning routine, excited to shop for the rest of his supplies. Given, he wasn't as excited as he was yesterday, some of the excitement having been rubbed off with the idea of having his own owl now (Sthenos, he'd named him); but he was excited nonetheless.

By noontime, mother and son had bought the nearly all the remaining items on the list of things he needed, so they decided to have a break.

Narcissa and he had just settled on the comfortable couches (that seemed to swallow whoever sat on them whole) of a dainty cafe when the bookstore across the street caught his eye.

"Mother," he'd murmured, nose pressed against the large, ceiling-to-floor window.

"Mm?" Narcissa hummed as she skimmed the cafe's menu.

"Can I go visit that bookstore?" the eleven year-old asked, his breath fogging up the window as he spoke earnestly.

Narcissa glanced up from the menu just as she decided on which tea she would be ordering; and the large, golden embellished letters of Flourish and Blotts.

Glancing at Draco, Narcissa chuckled. The boy was practically ogling the bookshop from where he sat, and deciding that she would just join him later on to buy his books, Narcissa conceded. "Alright, you may go. Don't cause trouble, though, darling."

Draco turned to her, eyes lighting up like Christmas lights. "I promise!"

Narcissa smiled as she watched him jump out of his seat and bound towards the shop. He had always taken after her intense love of books, after all.

#

Draco spent his first five minutes inside Flourish and Blotts just staring at the numerous rows and shelves of books in awe.

"So much books all in one place…" he murmured to himself as he finally decided to explore the place. "Even more books than Mother's library!"

Fingering the spines of seemingly endless books, Draco craned his neck to drink in as much of the shop as he could. So engrossed he was in his looking, he failed to notice the small figure curled up on the floor below one of the shelves.

As Draco's foot hit a soft object, an indignant "Hey!" came from below him. Startled, he jumped back and knocked a few of the books that were stacked at the edge of the shelf behind him.

A giggle followed his shock; and he glanced down to find a young girl about his age with bushy curls that framed her small, petite face staring up at him.

"Erm…" Draco's face flushed from pink to red in five seconds as the girl giggled again, her warm, brown eyes flickering to a golden color as she smiled.

"Sorry, miss, I didn't see you there," he mumbled, bending down to pick up the books he'd knocked over.

Placing the books back where they belonged, he peeked at the girl from the corner of his eye. She'd stood up to her full height (which was not very much, considering she only came up to about his brow, and he was already short for an eleven year old) and was watching him. Clearing his throat, Draco turned to face her.

"Gah!" he took a step back once more as he came face to face with the girl, surprised at their closeness.

She giggled again. "Hullo. My name's Hermione. Hermione Granger. What's yours?"

Draco gawked at her for a second, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish out of water. "I—uhm...my name's...uh...mymothertoldmenevertospeaktostranger s."

The smile dropped from Hermione's face and her brows scrunched together. "Your name's My Mother Told Me Never to Speak to Strangers?"

The blond boy's mouth dropped. How had she deciphered what he'd said so quickly and clearly?! And when did he start to stutter and feel shy? "I…"

"What an odd name. Were your parents hanging from their feet upside down when they named you?" Hermione questioned.

"_What?_" Draco's eyes widened, bewildered at what she'd just said.

"Well, who names their child My Mother Told Me Never to—"

"My name's _Malfoy—_Draco Malfoy."

"Speak to—? What—oh. _Oh._ That makes much more sense!" the girl named Hermione exclaimed, and then burst into a fit of giggles once more.

"What's so funny?" Draco questioned, wanting in on the secret that was so funny.

"It's just...I can't believe…" Hermione managed to get out between her giggles.

Draco huffed, annoyed. Was all she ever did was giggle? Apparently yes, because at that moment, she burst out into raucous laughter. It was then that he realized he'd spoken his question aloud. Flushing a dark red once more, Draco looked away.

When her laughter had faded into nothing but snorts—"Did you just _snort_?"—Hermione cleared her throat and resumed what she had been telling him. "I meant to say that I couldn't believe I was so stupid as to believe that someone would name their child 'My Mother Told Me Never to Speak to Strangers'. I mean, seriously! No one in their right minds would ever do that! And no, I don't just laugh all the time. I happen to spend about two-thirds of my day reading books. Also, yes, I did snort. And as much as unladylike as it may be, I don't really care. So what if I snort? It's not as if my snorting would make me any less a person."

It seemed as if all Hermione could do was either make Draco speechless, or make him stutter and gawk. Never in his whole life did he ever meet someone who talked as much as she did—and all in one breath too! She also didn't seem to fear talking to strangers (Mother had said it might get him into some nasty trouble), read books as much as she (and as much as he) did, or not care that she snorted (Father said ladies who snorted were not pleasing). All this together made Hermione Granger seem all the more _real_ to Draco Malfoy, who, for all his eleven years alive, never met anyone who was as carefree and lively as she. All the girls of his age that he'd met in his parents' party were either too fake (at least that's how they seemed from the surface) or too _ladylike_.

"Well?" Hermione raised a brow. "Are you just going to stare at me the whole day?"

Coughing to clear his throat, he glanced at the book she'd been reading before he'd accidentally kicked her. It was left open to a page somewhere in the middle and he stared at the familiar fine print. "What's that you're reading?"

Hermione beamed proudly. "_Hogwarts: A History_. Fantastic read, really. I've read it nearly three times now, cover to cover, ever since I received my letter."

A fantastic read? No one, not even _Mother_, who in all her love for books, ever found _Hogwarts: A History_ fantastic! Well there was him, who loved every page of it, and then there was her, so maybe it wasn't exactly 'no one'.

Draco smirked. "Three times, huh?"

Hermione's bushy brows met again. "Yes. Why?"

"I've read it _four_." Malfoy smiled triumphantly at Hermione's gasp of "No!"

Before he could reply, a feminine voice that sounded like a tinkering bell broke the conversation. "Draco, honey, there you are! I've been looking all over for you—oh. Who's this?"

Both children looked up to see Narcissa Malfoy standing behind them, hands perched on her hips and a perfectly-shaped brow raised.

"Uhm...this is—"

"Hullo! My name's Hermione Granger. You must be Draco's mother,"

Surprised by the girl's confidence, Narcissa smiled weakly. "That I am. I wasn't aware Draco had any female friends aside from the ones who come over at our house." She raised a brow at her son, who simply shrugged.

"Oh, we just met today, Mrs. Malfoy." Hermione beamed.

"Today?" Narcissa's brow lifted a fraction of an inch higher.

"Yes! He'd accidentally kicked me and—"

"Kicked you! Draco Malfoy, what did I tell you about chivalry?" Narcissa glared at her son, who scowled.

"It was an accident, Mother. I hadn't seen her curled up on the floor."

"Is that so?" Mother didn't seem very convinced to Draco.

"That is, indeed, what happened, Mrs. Malfoy. And anyway, Draco's already apologized, so it's nothing, really," Hermione offered Draco a smile, as if to say "I got this".

Narcissa looked quite taken aback by the girl's impeccable grammar, but nonetheless smiled. "Well, aren't you a smart one!"

Granger blushed and smiled shyly, looking down at her shoes. "Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Well, indeed!" Draco thought. "Hermione can actually be _shy_! She hasn't been shy for the last few minutes. I wonder what else can make her shy?"

Draco was brought out of his thoughts by his mother's voice. "It was nice to meet you, dear, but I'm afraid Draco and I have to continue shopping for his books."

"Did you say _school_ books?" Hermione questioned.

"Why, yes. He's received his letter from Hogwarts just last week." Narcissa answered, making a move to grab his hand.

Hermione's face lit up. "I'm attending Hogwarts too!"

Narcissa laughed. This girl seemed to be of a different variety of confidence and intelligence altogether. "Well I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to get to know each other then. But Draco and I really do have to get going, Hermione. We'll see you at the Platform, yes?"

Hermione nodded eagerly.

"We'll be leaving now. I hope to see you again, darling." Narcissa smiled softly at the girl and turned to her son. "Bid Hermione goodbye, Draco."

"Erm…" Draco cleared his throat, looking at his shoes, "See you around, Hermione." He hadn't like the sound of his mother's voice. It was too soft and sugary, almost like she knew something he didn't. To add to all of that, it seemed as if _Hermione_ made him nervous.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Malfoy; it was nice meeting you! See you at the platform, Draco!" Hermione called as the two figures disappeared further into the bookshop.

#

"Isn't she something?" Narcissa breezily questioned as she paid for her son's newly bought books at the counter, and hour after they'd bid Hermione good-bye.

"Who?" Draco asked, pretending as if not to know who his mother was referring to.

"Hermione, dear. She's not like any of the other girls you've met at your Father and I's parties, no?" his mother smiled, a knowing lilt to her voice.

"Wha—I uhh—what?" Draco seemed to have gotten into the habit of stuttering even without Hermione's presence.

Narcissa chuckled teasingly. "My, my, my. I never thought my little boy could develop a crush after meeting someone so quickly!"

Draco flushed and drew a pattern on the wooden floors of Flourish and Blotts with his shoe. "...she _is_ something, Mother. She really is."


End file.
